Does smoking influence on men’s brains?

Does smoking influence on men’s brains?

When you smoke you hardly think of how the brain responds to tobacco or rather to nicotine. But the picture is rather interesting. At the moment when a smoke is taken, nicotine goes straight to the brain and gets to it just in about ten seconds. How does it influence the brain? It improves mood and concentration. Haven’t you known that? Smoking decreases anger and depresses your stress by relaxing muscles. In addition it reduces appetite. Oh! Reading this information we prove smoking to be so beneficial. Be that as it may, but! There is a big “but”.

Connection between smoking and mental skills

When a man smokes regularly, the changes occur in his brain caused by nicotine as a result he gets nicotine withdrawal symptoms and wants smoking more and more and soon he has a bad habit. And what follows it? Smoking declines his memory and that means that he can think slower, learn worse, and process information with mistakes. Is it enough reason for the fact that smoking is bad for a man’s brain? If it is not, then there is another one! The study shows that a man gets 10 years older meaning his mental skills. Smoking leads to decline of mental functions. And that decline is observed rapidly. And what is even worse, when a man quits smoking, he does not necessarily restore those lost functions immediately. It can be needed more than 5 years to renew the healthy process. There are more risks at older ages.

The link between smoking and cognition should not be underestimated because there is even a high risk of death among smokers. Unfortunately the questions on the exact link between smoking and brain health remain as far as the mechanism of their interaction is not quite clear. Do not forget that there are other problems caused by nicotine: hypertension, cardiovascular disease, or lung damage.

Why do men start smoking?

You know for sure, in which way smokers explain their addiction! More often they say that smoking cigarettes they can get rid of symptoms of stress. But this is not more than self-medication. A man feels stressed when he is unable to cope with uncomfortable circumstances and pressure. As a result he has headaches or breathlessness, feels anxious and irritable. And smoking can even redouble those symptoms. Still under those tight conditions a man can start smoking but more likely due to social factors: “Everybody smokes when getting nervous and I’ll do it.” And we should mention that a lot of men explaining their smoking by stress actually start smoking before those problems begin. Some men especially young ones just want to have a try and experiment with cigarettes becoming a regular smoker in due course. The influence of smoking friends or relatives also matters. Those men who abuse alcohol and drugs are more likely to start smoking. There are even such reasons for smoking as routine they say it helps them relax and catch a break.

But you should know that scientific study proves that instead of releasing from stress and helping to relax, smoking actually intensifies anxiety and tension. Nicotine creates an immediate sense of relaxation so people smoke in the belief that it reduces stress and anxiety. Even if he feels relaxation, it will be replaced by new more severe wave of anxiety. Later it gives way to nicotine withdrawal symptoms, which can be reduced by further smoking.

Though, we have found a reason for smoking – keeping normal weight. Nicotine can be loss weight beneficial, though a man would better run off excess fat taking into account the higher rates of smoking-related health problems. And mental health problems are not the most unpleasant among them. Lung cancer is an alternative ending for heavy smokers.